A guitar for my Father

[Itzkinguitars]

The main reason I decided to start taking guitar lessons and learn to do woodworking was because of my dad. A little about my dad, he was a police officer in Manhattan for 20 years. He was about a year from retirement when 9/11 happened and due to the debris and toxins he had been exposed to day in and day out lost the entirety of his vision in his left eye. Shortly after, he lost nearly half the vision in his right eye.

A longterm goal he had, had was to eventually learn to play the guitar and with with depression beginning to settle in, my mom wisely suggested that he try and learn. After watching my father learn to play the guitar for nearly a year, I decided to ask if I could take lessons as well and over the past eight years, we have grown as both guitar players and father and son with the help of out weekly lessons.

I've been thinking about building a guitar for him for quite a while now, and finally decided to start it a few months ago. I was kind of broke at the time, so I kept it very simple to fit within my $80 budget. Luckily my dad either likes really simple guitars or really flashy guitars, so it fit his sense of aesthetics well.

It has an Engelmann spruce top, Indian Rosewood back and sides, bridge, fingerboard, binding, headplate, backplate, heelcap, endwedge, and bridge plate, mahogany neck (it had a small worm hole that I had to fill), Ebony/Maple/Ebony purfling, Herringbone rosette, Delmar pickguard, and Gotoh tuners.

Here some photos (sorry if there are too many)

[Itzkinguitars]

And here are some videos of the guitar featuring my rather mediocre playing (they were recorded with the front camera and built in mic of an iPhone, thus explaining the low quality)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O71hpe9snSs&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzBBX...feature=relmfu

[leftybanjo]

I think you did a fantastic job... You and your Dad should be very proud!

[Macco]

Very touching story, Hederson. I don't know crap about building a guitar but it surely looks like a nice job to me. I do know crap about family though. And I commend you on this effort.

Thanks to your dad for his service.

[Murkar]

That is amazing, and really nice what you did for your father The guitar is gorgeous, you did a great job on it I like the rosewood you used for the back, I find straight and dark grained IRW is kind of boring to look at sometimes

[Funkstarfish]

Super Classy,

What a gift!

[JoeCharter]

Brian,

You built this with $80?

It looks mighty fine to me.

What a thoughtful gift for your dad. Congratulations.

Joe

[Thrillhouse]

That's great man. I know you are very proud of your dad and I'm sure he feels the same about you. Nice job!

[ZekeM]

This story inspired me. What a great story. Guitars bringing you closer with your father. Then building him one. Fantastic! And the guitar is beautiful also.

[CollinW]

Wow, what a great story. Also, impressive guitar for only $80!

[Dru Edwards]

Great story and beautiful guitar! Was $80 a typo? It would cost that just for the tuners. Have you given it to your dad yet?

[Itzkinguitars]

Thanks everyone,

Yes I gave the guitar to my Dad already: he seems to like it. Yes I really did build it for just under $80; but in the end I think it's a really nice guitar regardless of how much I spent on materials.

Here's just a list of material cost:

EIRW back and sides- $6
EIRW binding- the cutoffs from the sides, so part of the $6
EIWR headplate/backplate- back cut offs, so part of the $6
EIRW Fingerboard and bridge- $8
Mahogany neck blank- $5
Truss rod- $10
Gotoh tuners- $33
Bridge pins- $6
Nut and saddle- $3 (from a cow bone I bought at a pet shop)
Purfling and rosette- $5
Pickguard- $0.80
Top- a gift from a friend on another forum
Braces- $5
Frets- $3
A large egg (for pore filling)- $0.25
Lacquer- $2
Kerfing and blocks- $2

I went a little over, but it's not that big of a deal

[Nort]

Very nice build
That's some pretty sweet flatpicking on video 2 as well

As I'm sure he well knows... Your Dad is a blessed man to have a son like you.

[Hypnos]

Awesome job, Brian. This is a seriously cool story and the guitar turned out great!

[ukejon]

Fantastic gesture.